Shipping management system with multi-carrier support

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and products for dynamically selecting carriers in a shipping management system are disclosed. In one embodiment, in response to a user requesting a new shipment, a shipping management system collects shipping information from a plurality of carriers. The system provides the user with a choice of carriers to ship the new shipment based on selection rules. In response to the choice of carriers provided to the user, the user can select one of the carriers to execute the new shipment. The shipping management system can send a signal to the computer system of the chosen carrier to execute the new shipment.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims a benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 toU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/432,517 filed Dec. 9, 2016,entitled “SHIPPING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WITH MULTI-CARRIER SUPPORT”, whichis hereby fully incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to computer systems formanaging shipment of goods. More particularly the present disclosurerelates to online computer systems for dynamic carrier selection.

BACKGROUND

The shipment of goods between shippers and recipients is typicallycarried out by carriers that own assets (trucks, cars, cargo ships,airplanes, rail cars) and that are contracted by manufacturers andretailers of those goods. In general, shipments are divided into twomodes: “parcel” and “freight.” Parcels are generally small, individualshipments handled by common carriers. Individual shippers can drop offthese shipments at numerous locations (or have the shipments picked up)at their convenience. Pricing is generally determined by dimensionaland/or weight. Carriers typically limit parcel shipments to particularweight and/or dimensions (e.g., 150 lbs. and 165″ in length plus girth).

A shipment that exceeds the parcel limits is typically categorized asfreight. Freight may be further divided into freight modes such as FullTruckload (FTL), Partial Truckload, Less Than Truckload (LTL), AirFreight, Ocean Freight, Rail Freight and Intermodal Freight. Freightpricing is determined on a number of factors including mode, routedistance, fuel costs, density and value (weight, length, height),stow-ability, handling, liability, freight class, etc. Freight shipmentsare generally arranged with a carrier. Arrangements may include how thefreight is to be loaded, how long it will take in transport, specializedequipment required or other information to facilitate the delivery.

Conventionally, shippers maintain internal lists of the costs ofshipping goods to various destinations by each carrier/mode that theshipper uses. When a package is ready to be shipped, the shipper simplyselects the lowest cost carrier/mode for that shipment.

An organization that does a large amount of shipping may have a computersystem that is tightly integrated with a carrier system to notify thecarrier that a shipment is ready for pickup, print shipping labels, etc.However, conventional shipper systems, even if they can integrate withmultiple carriers, are limited because they rely on users to input costsand then base carrier selection on those costs.

Moreover, prior systems do not adequately account for drop shippers.With drop shipping, a retailer does not keep goods in stock but insteadrelies on a manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler to ship aproduct. When a drop shipper is used, the retailer's ordering systemwill transfer customer orders and shipment details to the drop shipper,ceding control of the shipment provisioning process to the drop shipper.The retailer's shipping system cannot effectively enforce the use ofparticular carriers or policies on the drop shipper.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure is directed to systems, methods, and products fordynamically selecting carriers in a shipping management system. Oneparticular embodiment is directed to a system for facilitating dynamiccarrier selection having one or more computer systems coupled to anetwork and a data storage device. The system collects shippinginformation from a plurality of carriers using one or more ingestmodules, in response to a user scheduling a new shipment. The systemuses one or more normalization modules to normalize the collectedshipping information from the plurality of carriers. The system appliesone or more selection rules to the normalized collected shippinginformation to select a group from the plurality of carriers forpresentation to the user. One of the selected carriers is chosen by theuser or automatically by the system for execution of the new shipment.The system sends a signal to the computer system of the selected carrierto execute the shipment.

Numerous other embodiments are also possible.

These, and other, aspects of the disclosure will be better appreciatedand understood when considered in conjunction with the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood,however, that the following description, while indicating variousembodiments of the disclosure and numerous specific details thereof, isgiven by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many substitutions,modifications, additions and/or rearrangements may be made within thescope of the disclosure without departing from the spirit thereof, andthe disclosure includes all such substitutions, modifications, additionsand/or rearrangements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification areincluded to depict certain aspects of the disclosure. It should be notedthat the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawnto scale. A more complete understanding of the disclosure and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numbers indicate like features and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts one embodiment of a topology which may be used with ashipping management system.

FIG. 2 depicts a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of ascorecard illustrating various metrics for carriers/modes.

FIG. 3 depicts a dashboard provided by a shipping management system.

FIG. 4 depicts a schedule pickup menu for a dashboard provided by ashipping management system.

FIG. 5 depicts a dynamically generated web page in which carriers arepresented to the user.

FIG. 6 depicts a web page in which the user can review the shippingorder and finalize the order for shipment by the carrier that was useror automatically selected.

FIG. 7 depicts a shipping status view provided by a shipping managementsystem.

FIG. 8 depicts a shipping details view provided by a shipping managementsystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention and the various features and advantageous details thereofare explained more fully with reference to the nonlimiting embodimentsthat are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in thefollowing description. Descriptions of well-known starting materials,processing techniques, components and equipment are omitted so as not tounnecessarily obscure the invention in detail. It should be understood,however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, whileindicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way ofillustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions,modifications, additions and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/orscope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art from this disclosure.

Embodiments described herein provide a shipping management system thatintegrates with a variety of carrier systems, analyzes carrier trackingdata and other data and allows selection of carriers on an individualshipment basis based on dynamic factors. The shipping management systemcan facilitate shipping across shippers for an account holder andenforce carrier selection policies for the account holder.

Embodiments of the systems and methods of the present invention may bebetter explained with reference to FIG. 1 which depicts one embodimentof a topology 100 which may be used to implement embodiments of thesystems and methods of the present invention. Topology 100 comprises aset of entities including a shipping management system 120 that iscoupled through network 170 to computing devices 110 (e.g. desktopcomputers, laptop computers, servers, smart phones), and one or morecomputer systems 150 (“carrier systems”) at multiple carriers. Carriersmay include national, international and regional carriers (e.g., UPSFREIGHT, SAIA, R+L CARRIERS, ABF, FED EX, DHL). Shipping managementsystem 120 may also connect to various other external systems 180, suchas e-commerce servers, ERP systems, TMS systems, ESP/SMS systems,CSR/CRM systems. Network 170 may be for example, a wireless or wirelinecommunication network such as the Internet or wide area network (WAN),publicly switched telephone network (PTSN) or any other type ofelectronic communication link.

Shipping management system 120 may comprise one or more computer systemswith central processing units executing instructions embodied on one ormore computer readable media where the instructions are configured toperform at least some of the functionality associated with embodimentsof the present invention. These applications may include a shippingmanagement application 130 comprising one or more applications(instructions embodied on a computer readable media) configured toimplement an interface module 132, data ingest modules 134, anormalization module 135, selection module 136 utilized by the shippingmanagement system 120.

Furthermore, shipping management system 120 may include data store 122operable to store obtained data 124, normalized data 126, generated data128, account information 129 and other data. Account information 129includes information on account holders of accounts with shippingmanagement system 120. The account information may be associated withindividuals, shippers or entities, such as retailers, that use dropshippers, where the drop shippers may or may not be account holders. Theaccount holder information 129 may include credentials for one or morecarrier systems 150 so that shipping management system 120 may log intoa carrier system 150 on behalf of the account holder to schedule ashipment, request tracking information, etc.

Shipping management system 120 may provide a wide degree offunctionality including utilizing one or more interfaces 132 configuredto for example, to receive and respond to queries from users atcomputing devices 110. It will be understood that the particularinterface 132 utilized in a given context may depend on thefunctionality being implemented by shipping management system 120, thetype of network 170 utilized to communicate with any particular entity,the type of data to be obtained or presented, the time interval at whichdata is obtained from the entities, the types of systems utilized at thevarious entities, etc. In some embodiments, these interfaces mayinclude, for example web pages, web services or application programminginterfaces (APIs). In particular, in some embodiments, shippingmanagement system 120 can provide an API so that online ordering systemsmay be integrated with shipping management system 120. Shippingmanagement system 120 may select a carrier and schedule pick up of ashipment as part of a customer checkout process on an online orderingsystem.

Shipping management system 120 can interact with carrier systems 150 toexecute shipments, collect tracking information, or take other actions.According to one embodiment, shipping management system 120 may providean interface 132 through which a user can define a shipment. Theshipment information may include an account holder if different than theshipper (e.g., a drop shipper can indicate (or it may be implicit) thatthe shipment is on behalf of a particular retailer), recipient, fromaddress (shipper), to address (consignee), weight, product class anddimensions and other information. Shipping management system 120 canapply defined rules to multiple real time and historical signals todecision carrier selection. Shipping management system 120 may providecarrier selections to the user so that the user may select a finalshipper or shipping management system 120 may automatically select thecarrier. Shipping management system may then interact with the carriersystem 150 for the selected carrier to execute the shipment.

In one embodiment, shipping management system applies rules to acombination of:

-   -   transportation signals, such as cost for a specific item        (specific weight, origin, destination), current conditions;    -   historical signals such as carrier performance, both overall and        area-specific;    -   business signals such as desired carrier mix or spend threshold.        Business signals may include recipient value signals such as        lifetime value or a specific purchase value.

In support of carrier selection, transportation signal data is collectedas part of creating shipments. A transportation signal typicallyincludes parameters necessary to order shipping, including informationsuch as the shipment origin and destination, items (dimensions, weightand quantity). Other transportation signal data may include shipmentpreferences entered by the user. For example, the user may indicate thatthe shipping management system 120 should prioritize transit time,historical on-time delivery or other selection criteria when selecting acarrier. The transportation signals may further include a rate quotefrom the carrier specific to the shipment.

The transportation signal data from client computers 110 is collected bythe interface module 132, can transmit that information to the furthersystem through a normalized API. Ingest modules 134 can collecttransportation signal data from the carriers. The transportation signaldata may be stored in data 122 and may be normalized.

When a user defines a shipment, shipping management system 120 createsand sends a “shipment data packet” in real time to carrier candidates.The shipment data packet may include parameters such as from address(shipper), to address (consignee), dimensions, weight and quantity,mode, product class or other information used by the carrier to providea cost to ship and estimated transit time.

In some cases, carrier systems 150 may provide public APIs 151 thatallow external systems to execute shipments and access tracking data. Aningest module can be configured to interact with APIs 151 to submit theshipment data packet to various carriers and store the responses.

Other carrier systems 150 may only provide a web page interface, such asweb page interface 154, for requesting and tracking shipments. However,since the structure of web pages can be understood through observation,an ingest module 134 may be programmed to submit information through aweb page and collect the returned data.

Normalization module 135 can normalize the cost, estimated transit timeand other data returned by carrier systems 150.

During shipment, carrier systems 150 may provide shipment tracking datathat indicates when a shipment was ready for pickup, when the shipmentwas picked up, check in/check out at various tracking locations, whenthe shipment was actually delivered. Each tracking update can containone or more of status (status code or other description), location andtime information for a shipment. In some cases, a tracking data mayindicate an exception. Exceptions are events that delay or otherwiseadversely affect a shipment. Exception data may include for example,data that may indicate that a pickup was missed, a shipment wasdelivered late, a shipment was damaged, etc.

Shipment tracking data (and other data) can be normalized. In oneembodiment, shipping management system 120 defines a status mappingdocument (e.g., in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format or otherformat) which defines:

-   -   An input status code and/or status description.    -   A matching rule, which is either “matches exactly”, “starts        with” or “ends with”, that is applied to the input status code        or status description. In some embodiments, applying matching        rules may include parsing carrier provided transit data for        specific codes or descriptive words (e.g., “arrived”).    -   A resulting normalized status code, exception flag and exception        category for each matching input.

By defining a carrier-specific status mapping, normalization module 135allows shipping management system 120 to compensate for differencesbetween carriers using more or less specific rules based on thegranularity for the source data.

Ingest modules 134 can collect tracking data from carrier systems 150and normalization module 135 can normalize the data from the variouscarriers.

The historical signal data, including historical transportation signaldata, historical shipment tracking data and other historical data can bepersistently stored in data store 122. The historical signal data caninclude data on all executed and ingested shipments, as well as alltracking updates which pertain to each shipment. The historical signaldata may be fully normalized.

Historical data for shipments may also be augmented by users. Forexample, even if a carrier-provided data does not indicate that ashipment was damaged, the user associated with the shipment may providesuch information through an interface.

Shipping management system 120 can thus collect data on actual transittimes by carrier and mode from origin (address or postal code) todestination (address or postal code) for shipments of various sizes,weights, etc. along with the estimated transit times for the priorshipments, exceptions that occurred and other information aboutshipments.

Selection module 136 may process historical signal data to generate oneor more metrics for a carrier/mode. Examples include, but are notlimited to, average transit time (ATT) from an origin to destination, ontime percentage (OTP), delivery before exception percentage (DBE)(deliveries that were delivered without an exception prior to achievinga “delivered” status), average length of haul (LOH), average cost perpound per mile (cost/lb/mi), number of in transit shipments. DBE mayaccount for all types of exceptions or only certain types of exceptionsand there may be different DBEs for different types of exceptions (e.g.,damage exception vs. delay exception).

One or more of the historical metrics may account forsource/destination, time of year, package size class, package weightclass or other factors. In some cases, some historical shipping metricsmay be calculated based on all past shipments or all shipments in a timewindow, while other historical shipping metrics account forsource/destination, time of year, package size class, package weightclass or other factors. For example, in one embodiment, OTP may becalculated in aggregate for a carrier/mode, while average transit timeis determined on a per origin/destination pair basis.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a scorecardillustrating various metrics for carriers/modes. In the example of FIG.2, five carriers are shown (Carrier 1, Carrier 2, Carrier 3, Carrier 4,and Carrier 5). For each carrier, the scorecard shows mode, OTP, DBE,LOH, Cost, and number of in transit shipments.

Returning to FIG. 1, shipping management system 120 may also receivebusiness signals, from a shipper such as desired carrier mix or spendthreshold. Business signals may include recipient value signals such aslifetime value or a specific purchase value. Recipient value signals caninclude information regarding the value of a recipient to an accountholder. This information may be provided by the account holder as aclassification (e.g., a user may label particular recipients as “Tier1”, “Tier 2” etc.). In other cases, selection module 136 may apply rulesto shipping data to determine recipient value. The “Tier 1” recipientsof a shipper (or account holder) may be, for example, a recipient thatreceives x number of shipments a month from an account holder, orgreater than a particular percentage of an account holder's shipments,or is in the top y recipients for the account holder. Customer tierclassifications may be updated as new information becomes available oraccording to a schedule.

Selection module 136 may score carriers/modes based on one or morefactors from historical data, current transportation signal data andbusiness signal data. According to one embodiment, for example, when auser enters shipment information, selection module 136 may apply ascoring algorithm to score carriers/modes based on one or more factorsfrom the historical data, such as ATT for the origin/destination postalcodes, OTP, DBE, cost/lb/mi and other factors. The factors may beweighted where the weights are tunable based user (e.g., account holder)preferences. If the shipper indicates that speed and on time deliveryare more important for a shipment, the scoring algorithm may weight ATTand OTP more heavily than cost/lb/mi. On the other hand, if cost is ahigher priority, a scoring algorithm that weights cost more heavily maybe selected.

In the above example, historical cost/lb/mi is used, and thus a scorethat accounts for price can be calculated prior to receiving a quotefrom a carrier for a particular shipment. In another embodiment,shipping management system 120 can send the shipment packet to thecarrier systems 150, receive quotes in return and include data from thereturned quote, such as price, estimated delivery time, in the shippingalgorithm.

The carriers presented to the shipper for selection can be based on thescoring. For example, when a shipper wishes to select a carrier for aparticular shipment, the shipper may be shown the carriers in rank-orderbased on the scoring. In some embodiments, the shipper's selection ofcarrier is limited to the top “n” carrier(s) based on the scoring.

While in the previous examples, selection module 136 was described interms of using a weighted selection scoring algorithm to score carriers,selection module 136 may use other rules. In one embodiment, minimumcriteria for one or more performance metrics may be set by default or bythe shipper and the selection module 136 can select from the carriersthat meet those criteria based on selection rules. For example, theshipper may specify a minimum OTP of 85%. When the shipper initiates anew shipment, shipping management system 120 can, for example, selectthe lowest cost carrier from the carriers that have an OTP of 85% orgreater. Using the data of FIG. 2, the shipping management system 120could select the lowest cost carrier between Carrier 3 and Carrier 5because these are the only carriers with an OTP>85%.

According to one embodiment, selection module 136 may take into accountrecipient value signal data when scoring carriers. For example, in oneembodiment, the account holder may specify that on time delivery is mostimportant for Tier 1 recipients, but, for other recipients, cost(historical or quoted) and on time delivery are equally important. Inthis case, OTP would be weighted most heavily for Tier 1 recipients,whereas OTP and cost could be weighted equally for non-Tier 1recipients. As another example, the shipper may specify rules such as:

-   -   Tier 1: OTP>85%, DBE>75%, selection criteria=ATT;    -   Tier 2: OTP>85%, DBE>50%, selection criteria=cost;    -   Tier 3: selection criteria=cost.        Again using FIG. 2 and the example rules above: i) for a        shipment to a Tier 1 recipient, selection module 136 would        select Carrier 3 based on OPT and DBE; ii) for a shipment to a        Tier 2 recipient, selection module 136 would select either        Carrier 3 or Carrier 5 based on which had the lowest cost for        the origin/destination of the shipment (or would present Carrier        3 and Carrier 5 in rank order based on cost for selection by the        shipper); and iii) for a shipment to a Tier 3 recipient, the        selection module 136 would simply select the lowest cost carrier        or rank the carriers based on lowest cost.

It can be noted that one or more performance metrics, weightedperformance metrics, scores (including rankings) used or produced by thescoring rules may be pre-calculated in that they may be current based onthe latest shipping data from prior shipments that has been processed(e.g., as that information came in or according to a schedule) but arenot calculated in response to a new shipping request. This can make thesystem more efficient and responsive as the system does not have tocalculate the pre-calculated item for every new shipping request at thetime that request is being made. In other embodiments, one or more ofthe metrics, weighted metrics or scores used or produced by the scoringalgorithm may be calculated at the time the shipment is requested.

In operation, shipping management system 120 may provide a systemthrough which shippers can select carriers, schedule pick up ofshipments and track shipments. In one embodiment, when an account holderrequests a shipment on behalf of itself, shipping management system 120may provide the account holder with a choice of carriers to ship anyparticular shipment based on selection rules (e.g., the top threecarriers) whereas when another shipper requests a shipment on behalf ofan account holder, (e.g., a drop shipper requests a shipment), shippingmanagement system 120 may enforce the account holder's policies andautomatically select a carrier for the shipment. In any event, when acarrier is selected by user selection or automatically, shippingmanagement system 120 can communicate with carrier system 150 throughthe API 151 to execute the shipment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a dashboard provided by shippingmanagement system 120 (e.g., a web based dashboard generated byinterface module 132) to a user (“John Smith”) associated with anaccount holder (“Company 1”). From the dashboard, the user can viewvarious metrics and access functions of shipping system 120. Forexample, the user can view shipment exceptions, view trackinginformation, etc. In particular, the user can schedule a new shipment(by selecting the menu item indicated at 300).

When a user selects to schedule a new shipment using the system, a newshipment page is displayed (FIG. 4). With respect to FIG. 4, forexample, the user provides shipment information to schedule pickup of anew shipment. Note that the shipper may be able to specify the shipperrole (e.g., shipper, drop shipper, etc.). Although not shown, theshipper can add additional information such as dimensions, weight orinformation needed to generate a shipment packet. In response toreceiving the shipment information from the shipper and potentiallyquotes from multiple carriers, shipping management system 120 canprovide a list of potential carriers based on the information andselection rules.

FIG. 5, for example, illustrates a dynamically generated web page inwhich carriers are presented to the user. In the example of FIG. 5, fivecarriers are shown, along with several pieces of information. In thisexample, for each carrier, information is shown relating to liability,transit days, an estimated delivery date, and a net cost. In thisexample, one of the five carriers (Carrier 5) is shown, but the systemis unable to show any information, due to the condition described.

In one embodiment, the carriers are presented in rank order based onselection module 136 scoring the carriers on historical shipping data,recipient value data or other data as discussed above. The carriersdisplayed may be the top “n” carriers based on the scoring algorithm,the carriers achieving a designated minimum score or carriers selectedbased on other criteria. The carrier(s) presented to a drop shipper maybe presented based on a scoring algorithm selected by theretailer/manufacturer etc. for which the drop shipper is shipping.

FIG. 5 also shows a “SELECT” button for four of the carriers. In thisexample, the shipper can then select a carrier (e.g., by clicking on the“SELECT” link) and schedule a pick up. In another embodiment, the topcarrier is automatically selected by selection module 136 based on thescoring algorithm. FIG. 6 illustrates a web page in which the user canreview the shipping order and finalize the order for shipment by thecarrier that the user selected or that was automatically selected.

A user may also be able to access other information through thedashboard. For example, a user may be able to view the status of allshipments associated with that shipper. For example, FIG. 7 is a webpage view showing a list of shipments, including a “Status” column,which shows the status of each shipment. In this embodiment, individualshipments are presented with various visual indicators (icons, colors,etc.) to indicate the status of each shipment. The user can select aparticular shipment by clicking on the shipment to drill down into thedetails of the shipment (FIG. 8). In the example of FIG. 8, the user canview information such as the ship date, the origin, the destination, theestimated delivery, carrier exceptions, and the shipping history.

Embodiments of a hardware architecture for implementing certainembodiments is described herein. One embodiment can include one or morecomputers communicatively coupled to a network. As is known to thoseskilled in the art, the computer can include a central processing unit(“CPU”), at least one read-only memory (“ROM”), at least one randomaccess memory (“RAM”), at least one hard drive (“HD”), and one or moreinput/output (“I/O”) device(s). The I/O devices can include a keyboard,monitor, printer, electronic pointing device (such as a mouse,trackball, stylus, etc.), or the like. In various embodiments, thecomputer has access to at least one database over the network.

ROM, RAM, and HD are computer memories for storing computer instructionsexecutable (in other words, which can be directly executed or madeexecutable by, for example, compilation, translation, etc.) by the CPU.Within this disclosure, the term “computer-readable medium” is notlimited to ROM, RAM, and HD and can include any type of data storagemedium that can be read by a processor. In some embodiments, acomputer-readable medium may refer to a data cartridge, a data backupmagnetic tape, a floppy diskette, a flash memory drive, an optical datastorage drive, a CD-ROM, ROM, RAM, HD, or the like.

At least portions of the functionalities or processes described hereincan be implemented in suitable computer-executable instructions. Thecomputer-executable instructions may be stored as software codecomponents or modules on one or more computer readable media (such asnon-volatile memories, volatile memories, DASD arrays, magnetic tapes,floppy diskettes, hard drives, optical storage devices, etc. or anyother appropriate computer-readable medium or storage device). In oneembodiment, the computer-executable instructions may include lines ofcompiled C++, Java, HTML, or any other programming or scripting code.

Additionally, the functions of the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented on one computer or shared/distributed among two or morecomputers in or across a network. Communications between computersimplementing embodiments can be accomplished using any electronic,optical, radio frequency signals, or other suitable methods and tools ofcommunication in compliance with known network protocols.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited only those elements but may include other elementsnot expressly listed or inherent to such process, article, or apparatus.Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to aninclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition “A orB” is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) andB is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true(or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

Additionally, any examples or illustrations given herein are not to beregarded in any way as restrictions on, limits to, or expressdefinitions of, any term or terms with which they are utilized. Instead,these examples or illustrations are to be regarded as being describedwith respect to one particular embodiment and as illustrative only.Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any term orterms with which these examples or illustrations are utilized willencompass other embodiments which may or may not be given therewith orelsewhere in the specification and all such embodiments are intended tobe included within the scope of that term or terms. Language designatingsuch nonlimiting examples and illustrations includes, but is not limitedto: “for example,” “for instance,” “e.g.,” “in one embodiment.”

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any component(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or component.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for facilitating dynamic carrierselection comprising: a shipping management computer system; a datastorage device coupled to the shipping management computer system thedata storage device storing: historical signal data for a plurality ofshipments transported by a plurality of carriers, the historical signaldata comprising historical transportation signal data collected fromorders made through the shipping management computer system andhistorical electronic shipment tracking data ingested by the shippingmanagement computer system from a plurality of carrier computer systemswhich are connected to the shipping management computer system by anetwork, each of the plurality of carrier computer systems associatedwith a respective carrier of the plurality of carriers; a set ofselection preferences associated with a shipper, each selectionpreference in the set of selection preferences corresponding to arespective recipient tier from a plurality of recipient tiers; andwherein the shipping management computer system is configured to:provide a user interface to a client computer to allow a user to submitonline via the network a new electronic shipment order for a newshipment, the new shipment order including an origin, a destination, arecipient, and physical parameters of the new shipment; responsive toreceiving the new shipment order using the user interface, generate anelectronic order packet and interact with the plurality of carriercomputer systems over the network to submit the electronic order packetto the plurality of carrier computer systems; receive via the networkshipping information responsive to the electronic order packet from eachof the plurality of carrier computer systems, wherein the shippinginformation from each of the plurality of carrier computer systems has acarrier specific format used by the respective carrier; normalize theshipping information using a matching rule, wherein the matching rulematches a portion of at least one of an input status code or an inputstatus description from the plurality of carrier computer systems to acorresponding normalized status code or a corresponding normalizedstatus description to normalize the carrier specific format to a commonformat for the new shipment; determine one or more metrics for theplurality of carriers based on the historical signal data; score theplurality of carriers using a plurality of factors to generate a set ofcarrier scores for the new shipment, the plurality of factors comprisingthe one or more metrics and at least one factor from the normalizedshipping information for the new shipment, the plurality of factorsweighted according to a first selection preference selected based on adetermination that the recipient belongs to a first tier from theplurality of recipient tiers; select one or more of the plurality ofcarriers based on the set of carrier scores; generate a user interfacedisplay; present, in the user interface display using the userinterface, the selected one or more of the plurality of carriers to theuser; and execute, by the shipping management computer system, the newshipment based on a first carrier chosen from among the selected onemore of the plurality of carriers, wherein executing the new shipmentcomprises interacting with the carrier computer system associated withthe first carrier to signal to the carrier computer system associatedwith the first carrier to execute the new shipment.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the shipping management computer system is configuredto provide a carrier selection interface to the client computer, thecarrier selection interface configured to display the selected one ormore of the plurality of carriers, wherein the first carrier is chosenby the user via the carrier selection interface.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the first carrier is automatically chosen by the shippingmanagement computer system based on a selection criteria specified inthe first selection preference.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein thefirst carrier is automatically chosen by the shipping managementcomputer system based on an estimated cost of the new shipment and atleast one additional factor.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of factors comprises an average transit time from the originto the destination.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality offactors includes cost.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the pluralityof factors includes reliability.
 8. A method for dynamic carrierselection comprising: storing at a shipping management system:historical signal data for a plurality of shipments transported by aplurality of carriers, the historical signal data comprising historicaltransportation signal data collected from online orders made through theshipping management system and historical electronic shipment trackingdata ingested by the shipping management system from a plurality ofcarrier computer systems which are connected to the shipping managementcomputer system by a network, each of the plurality of carrier computersystems associated with a respective carrier of the plurality ofcarriers; and a set of selection preferences associated with a shipper,each selection preference in the set of selection preferencescorresponding to a respective recipient tier from a plurality ofrecipient tiers; providing a user interface for the shipping managementsystem to a client computer to allow a user to submit online via thenetwork a new electronic shipment order for a new shipment, the newshipment order including an origin, a destination, a recipient, andphysical parameters of the new shipment; responsive to the usersubmitting the new electronic shipment order using the user interface,generating an electronic order packet at the shipping management systemand interacting, by the shipping management system, with the pluralityof carrier computer systems over the network to submit the electronicorder packet to the plurality of carrier computer systems; receiving, atthe shipping management system via the network, shipping informationresponsive to the electronic order packet from each of the plurality ofcarrier computer systems, wherein the shipping information from each ofthe plurality of carrier computer systems has a carrier specific formatused by the respective carrier; normalizing, by the shipping managementsystem, the shipping information using a matching rule, wherein thematching rule matches a portion of at least one of an input status codeor an input status description from the plurality of carrier computersystems to a corresponding normalized status code or a correspondingnormalized status description to normalize the carrier specific formatto a common format for the new shipment; determining, by the shippingmanagement system, one or more metrics for the plurality of carriersbased on the historical signal data; scoring, by the shipping managementsystem, the plurality of carriers using a plurality of factors togenerate a set of carrier scores for the new shipment, the plurality offactors comprising the one or more metrics and at least one factor fromthe normalized shipping information for the new shipment, the pluralityof factors weighted according to a first selection preference selectedbased on a determination that the recipient belongs to a first tier fromthe plurality of recipient tiers; selecting, by the shipping managementsystem, one or more of the plurality of carriers based on the set ofcarrier scores; generating a user interface display; presenting, in theuser interface display by the shipping management system, the selectedone or more of the plurality of carriers to the user using the userinterface; and executing, by the shipping management system, the newshipment based on a first carrier chosen from among the selected onemore of the plurality of carriers, wherein executing the new shipmentcomprises interacting with the carrier computer system associated withthe first carrier to signal to the carrier computer system associatedwith the first carrier to execute the new shipment.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the shipping management system is configured to providea carrier selection interface to the client computer, the carrierselection interface configured to display the selected one or more ofthe plurality of carriers, wherein the first earlier is Chosen by theuser via the carrier selection interface.
 10. The method of claim 8,wherein the first carrier is automatically chosen by the shippingmanagement system based on a selection criteria, specified in the firstselection preference.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstcarrier is automatically chosen by the shipping management system basedon an estimated cost of the new shipment and at least one additionalfactor.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of factorscomprises an average transit time from the origin to the destination.13. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of factors includescost.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of factorsincludes reliability.
 15. A computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer readable medium storing a set of computerexecutable instructions, the computer executable instructions executableto perform a method comprising: storing at a shipping management system:historical signal data for a plurality of shipments transported by aplurality of carriers, the historical signal data comprising historicaltransportation signal data collected from online orders made through theshipping management system and historical electronic shipment trackingdata ingested by the shipping management system from a plurality ofcarrier computer systems which are connected to the shipping managementcomputer system by a network, each of the plurality of carrier computersystems associated with a respective carrier of the plurality ofcarriers; and a set of selection preferences associated with a shipper,each selection preference in the set of selection preferencescorresponding to a respective recipient tier from a plurality ofrecipient tiers; providing a user interface for the shipping managementsystem to a client computer to allow a user to submit online via thenetwork a new electronic shipment order for a new shipment, the newshipment order including an origin, a destination, a recipient, andphysical parameters of the new shipment; responsive to the usersubmitting the new shipment order using the user interface, generatingan electronic order packet at the shipping management system andinteracting, by the shipping management system, with the plurality ofcarrier computer systems over the network to submit the electronic orderpacket to the plurality of carrier computer systems; receiving, via thenetwork at the shipping management system, shipping informationresponsive to the electronic order packet from each of the plurality ofcarrier computer systems, wherein the shipping information from each ofthe plurality of carrier computer systems has a carrier specific formatused by the respective carrier; normalizing, by the shipping managementsystem, the shipping information using a matching rule, wherein thematching rule matches a portion of at least one of an input status codeor an input status description from the plurality of carrier computersystems to a corresponding normalized status code or a correspondingnormalized status description to normalize the carrier specific formatto a common format for the new shipment; determining, by the shippingmanagement system, one or more metrics for the plurality of carriersbased on the historical signal data; scoring, by the shipping managementsystem, the plurality of carriers using a plurality of factors togenerate a set of carrier scores for the new shipment, the plurality offactors comprising the one or more metrics and at least one factor fromthe normalized shipping information for the new shipment, the pluralityof factors weighted according to a first selection preference selectedbased on a determination that the recipient belongs to a first tier fromthe plurality of recipient tiers; selecting, by the shipping managementsystem, one or more of the plurality of carriers based on the set ofcarrier scores; generating a user interface display; presenting, in theuser interface display by the shipping management system, the selectedone or more of the plurality of carriers to the user using the userinterface; and executing, by the shipping management system, the newshipment based on a first carrier chosen from among the selected onemore of the plurality of carriers, wherein executing the new shipmentcomprises interacting with the carrier computer system associated withthe first carrier to signal to the carrier computer system associatedwith the first carrier to execute the new shipment.
 16. The computerprogram product of claim 15, further comprising instructions forproviding a carrier selection interface to the client computer, thecarrier selection interface configured to display the selected one ormore of the plurality of carriers, wherein the first carrier is chosenby the user via the carrier selection interface.
 17. The computerprogram product of claim 15, further comprising instructions forautomatically choosing the first carrier based on a selection criteriaspecified in the first selection preference.
 18. The computer programproduct of claim 17, wherein the selection criteria is an estimatedcost.
 19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein theplurality of factors comprises an average transit time from the originto the destination.
 20. The computer program product of claim 15,wherein the plurality of factors includes cost.